Bruttii

The Bruttii were an Italic tribe who inhabited the southern extremity of Italy, from the frontiers of Lucania to the Sicilian straits in Calabria. The Bruttii became powerful as the Greek city-states of Magna Graecia were weakened by infighting, and the Bruttii and the Lucanians slew the invading king Alexander of Epirus in 326 BC. However, Agathocles the Great ravaged their coasts with his fleets and took Hipponium and turned it into a strong fortress and naval station, but the Bruttii would break their peace with Agathocles and retake Hipponium. In 282 BC, the Bruttii joined the Lucanians and Samnites in a coalition against the rising power of the Roman Republic, but they disappeared after being defeated during the Second Punic War.